Spurred by the success of these first diet sodas, other soda companies soon began making their own. In 1954, Canada Dry introduced a zero-calorie ginger ale called Glamor. The Royal Cola company released Diet Rite Cola in 1958, which was sweetened with a mixture of cyclamates and saccharin. read more
In order to make a diet soda (at least one people would popularly drink), a sugar substitute was needed. The first such artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered by accident. In the late 19th century, Constantin Fahlberg, after a long day working at the lab of the famed chemist Ira Remsen in Baltimore, Maryland, was at home eating dinner when he picked up a roll and bit into it. read more
The first diet soda was called No-Cal Ginger Ale. It was created by Hyman Kirsch, a Russian immigrant to New York. Kirsch founded a soft drink company in 1904 but later became the vice president of the Jewish Sanitarium for Chronic Disease, in New York City. read more